Christine King gave a talk at Great Falls College Montana State University on Wednesday about post-traumatic stress disorder and related veteran readjustment issues.

King is the team leader at the Great Falls Vet Center on 2nd Avenue North, where she and other staffers offer counseling, groups and resources to veterans in the community.

Nursing students, faculty and staff, veterans and family members attended the lecture.

She said the students, faculty and staff would likely meet veterans coping with post-traumatic stress or other military related conditions and that understanding the veterans needs and how best to work with them would be a valuable skill.

Kevin Lyons, the college's veteran success coach, said it was the first time his office had hosted a guest speaker and planned to bring King back to speak to the nursing students in the spring.

"I was aiming for getting it out to faculty and staff as a helpful talk on how they can deal with these things and recognizing these things," Lyons said.

It's also useful for the nursing students since "there will be more and more of our veterans coming back into the health care system."

Lyons has 161 veterans on his list of students. That represents about 10 percent of the student population, he said.

Of the 50 faculty members, five are veterans, he said.

Seemingly small things could cause a veteran to experience stress, anxiety or in extreme cases, a severe panic attack.

"Things in the environment without expecting it, can trigger you," King said.

After experiencing war, some veterans can have a hard time listening to fellow students talk about what they consider problems, King said.

A veteran in the lecture told the students that a veteran might be suffering from two conditions concurrently and the conditions might present similar symptoms, such as PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Another veteran said that veterans might also be suffering from some degree of depression.

The veterans and King said that understanding what the veterans could be facing will help fellow students, faculty and staff better interact with them.

King recommended that faculty and staff leave seats for veterans in their classes at the front and back of the room since they often prefer to sit in those areas.

She also recommended clearly explaining expectations and speaking frankly but respectfully with veterans.

She also said to be careful about applying stereotypes to veterans as it will make them feel isolated and further withdrawn and the stereotypes are often wrong.

"PTSD does not make you crazy," she said.

King's husband is a Vietnam veteran and she said, "I've come to understand what a toll (military service) takes."